The present invention relates to a burst protection device for tire removing machines.
When performing work on motor vehicle wheels that entails removing the tire from the wheel and reinstalling it, a serious safety problem related to the inflation of said tire arises.
In case of bursting, the shock wave produced by the air that strikes the operator combines with the violent movement that the wheel undergoes under the thrust of said air.
The event becomes even more severe if the tearing of the tire occurs on the sidewall that is directed toward the worktable of the tire removing machine; said worktable becomes a wall for upward propulsive thrust both for the tire and for the wheel.
In order to solve this dangerous problem, straps are currently used whose corresponding ends are rigidly coupled to the tire removing machine and, after securing the tire in the upward region, are coupled by means of their diametrically opposite ends, with appropriate spring-catches, to an eyebolt that is anchored to the frame of said machine.
Another means used to secure the tires is constituted by a frame that is made of metallic tubular material, is pivoted on one side to the footing of the tire removing machine, and has, on the other side, an engagement seat again for a safety strap which can in turn be rigidly coupled to said eyebolt.
However, it has been observed that due to the violence of the burst, said straps are absolutely insufficient to retain the wheel on the machine; when the burst occurs, said wheel in fact tends to squeeze between said straps, wedging between them, or even tears the eyebolt for coupling the closure spring-catches, even if said metal tube frame is used, or tears the very mesh of the straps, or strips the teeth of their windup mechanism, equally striking the operator, who must stay next to the tire removing machine in order to work on the tire.
Moreover, the operator, due to hurrying and to overconfidence caused by habitual use of the machine, sometimes deliberately does not use the safety straps, with imaginable consequences in case of bursting.